DT remains telecom’s most valuable brand

• Brand Finance Global 500 ranks Deutsche Telekom as top European as well as leading telco brand
• Tech brands dominate the ranking, with Apple still deemed the most valuable despite big gains by Microsoft and Nvidia
• Only five telcos make the top 50, with Verizon, AT&T, China Mobile and NTT joining DT in making the cut

Good news for Deutsche Telekom (DT) – it has once again been named the most valuable brand in the telecom sector, retaining 11th place on Brand Finance’s latest annual list, though several other operators slipped down the ranking.

The annual Brand Finance Global 500 report found DT’s brand value had increased by 12.8% year-on-year to $96.2bn, making it the strongest corporate brand in Europe and Germany, as it was last year. Since 2020 ($39.9bn), DT's brand value has increased by 141%, more than doubling within this period.

Unsurprisingly, The German telco’s head of brand, Uli Klenke, is delighted with the result. "The Telekom brand continues its successful trajectory. The results clearly demonstrate that our clear strategy, long-term continuity, and creative strength are paying off,” he noted in this announcement.

"With high-performance networks, innovative products, and excellent services, we are opening up the opportunities of digitalisation for people and creating connections and closeness where distances separate," added Klenke.

Tech brands dominated the ranking, with Apple remaining the top spot with a brand value of $607bn, up from $574bn in 2025. That is despite a significant gain by second placed Microsoft, which saw its brand value grow by more than $100bn to $565bn.

Nvidia made one of the greatest gains, leaping from ninth to fifth, as its brand value also grew by around $100bn thanks to the increasing global interest in AI. Google and Amazon rounded out the top five, while Samsung dropped two positions to eighth.

From the telco community only Verizon joined DT in the top 20, though it fell one place to 16^th, while its big US rival AT&T also dropped a place from its 2025 position to 25th. China Mobile (ranked at 31, down from 27) and NTT Group (ranked at 45, up from 48), were the only other telecom operators to appear in the top 50. 

SK Group (72), which owns South Korean telco SK Telecom, India’s Tata Group (61) and Comcast’s Xfinity (90) also made the top 100, while Huawei (58, up one place), Cisco Systems (62, up 13 places) and Dell Technologies (95, down one place) also made the top 100.

Other notable names further down the ranking include Orange (121) and Saudi Telecom Company (139), while SoftBank (190), Vodafone Group (192) and China Telecom (194) just placed in the top 200 companies.

David Haigh, Chairman and CEO, Brand Finance, commented: “Amid fierce competition to capture value from artificial intelligence innovation, Intel [182, down 21 places] is increasingly perceived as playing catch-up, while the brand values of rivals such as Nvidia and AMD [117, up 95] continue to skyrocket off the back of surging AI demand. This marks a defining moment for Intel: Innovate rapidly or risk being left behind. Yet even as brand value comes under pressure, Intel’s brand has strengthened year-on-year. The critical challenge now is translating this strength into tangible performance, or risk losing relevance in 2026’s most significant growth story.”

One brand that may be disappointed to not be in the top 200 is Telefónica, though the Spanish operator did celebrate another nod after it was named as Europe’s highest-ranked telco in Fortune magazine’s World’s Most Admired Companies 2026.

The 28th edition of Fortune’s list highlights the companies with the best corporate reputation, according to interviews with nearly 3,000 executives, directors and analysts from across the globe. The list covers 685 companies from 51 different sectors. This is whittled down to 324 companies, from 22 countries.

Apple also topped this list, for the 19th year in a row, with Microsoft also finishing runner up to its tech rival here as well. Amazon and Nvidia also make the top five, and are joined by JPMorgan Chase.

Fortune ranked AT&T as the most trusted telco, with NTT ranked second, Telefónica third, Lumen Communications fourth and Verizon fifth. However, while the Spanish operator was happy to mention that it “stands out in the areas of innovation capacity and global competitiveness, as well as product and service quality”, it is worth noting that in 2025, Forbes ranked it as the second most admired telco globally.

- James Pearce, Editor, TelecomTV